Bright Futures Webcasts

Released in 2008, Bright Futures: Guidelines for Health Supervision of Infants, Children and Adolescents, Third Edition provides detailed information on well-child care for health care practitioners. This text is considered the gold standard for pediatric care. Wisconsin provided a series of live webcasts jointly sponsored by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the state Department of Health Services, Division of Public Health, Family Health Section. These webcasts focused on the needs of public health nurses, and each featured a specific Bright Futures theme.

Promoting Healthy Sexual Development and Sexuality: May 18, 2011

This session described the roles, messages, and materials to support efforts of public health professionals and partners to provide quality services to children, youth, and their families as they relate to promoting healthy sexual development and sexuality of children and youth.

Promoting Child Development and Promoting Mental Health: Part 2 - March 22, 2011

Information about work to promote child development and mental health in Wisconsin was highlighted. Part 2 focused on content for children and youth during the school-age and adolescent years as described in Bright Futures: Promoting Child Development, pages 66 – 73, and Promoting Mental Health, pages 91 – 105. This session described the roles, messages, and materials to support efforts of public health professionals and partners to provide quality services to children, youth, and their families.

Promoting Child Development and Promoting Mental Health: Part 1 - January 26, 2011

The Part 1 session focused on early child development and included highlights of activities in Wisconsin that support social-emotional development of infants and young children.The session included information about attachment, regulation, parent-child relationships, and spotlighted strategies to support roles of mothers, fathers and other caregivers. This information is intended to help local public health professionals use Bright Futures, 3rd Editionas an MCH program reference document for their assurance role.

As rates of overweight and obesity are high in Wisconsin, we know that poor nutrition and lack of physical activity are core issues that need to be addressed. The second of this two-part series discussed current Bright Futures recommendations, effective physical activity-related strategies, what is happening in Wisconsin to address obesity, and what is needed to reach our goal of healthier kids.

The following Bright Futures sessions supported the community relationships and resources for implementing Bright Futures in public health practice and were originally broadcast at the Public Health Nursing Pre-conference - Decoding Baby Language: A Tool for Successful Parenting, on August 16, 2010, in Stevens Point, Wisconsin.

Promoting Healthy Nutrition and Healthy Weight: Part 1 - June 3, 2010

As rates of overweight and obesity are high in Wisconsin, we know that poor nutrition and lack of physical activity are core issues that need to be addressed. We also know that it will require all of us working together in many different settings including child care, schools, workplaces, health care, and in our communities to address this multifaceted issue. So, what can we do? How do we get started? Part one of this two-part series discussed Bright Futures recommendations, effective nutrition strategies, what is happening in Wisconsin to address obesity, and what is needed to reach our important goal of healthier kids.

Promoting Safety and Injury Prevention: March 11, 2010

Bright Futures: Promoting Safety and Injury Prevention provided health care professionals with the tools to prevent the leading cause of death in children. “Ensuring that a child remains safe from harm or injury during the long journey from infancy through adolescence is a constant task… Integrating injury prevention counseling with developmental and behavioral discussions when talking with the family can be an effective method of delivering this important information…” Community partnerships further enhance the effectiveness.

Promoting Oral Health: January 21, 2010

Bright Futures Promoting Oral Health covered an important and continuing health supervision issue for health care professionals. Oral health is necessary to the overall well-being of children and adolescents. Information about oral health described the roles, messages, and materials to support the work of public health professionals in Wisconsin.

Information and links to services for children and youth with special needs, their families and providers. Call 800-642-7837 to speak with a parent specialist. Information is available on services such as Birth to 3/early intervention, financial assistance, parent networking and support, home health care, therapy services, CYSHCN Regional Centers and more.